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Early Onset Schizophrenia

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EARLY ONSET SCHIZOPHRENIA Samuel Wilson III

April 19, 2015

Introduction to Early Onset Schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that has long been a taboo in American society. Schizophrenics have been perceived as being crazy, insane, and outcasts in society. People suffering from this disorder lose touch with reality and often experience hallucinations. One very unlooked aspect of this disorder is the children who are diagnosed with the illness. Early onset schizophrenia (EOS) describes children and adolescents identified with having some form of schizophrenia before age 18 (American Psychiatric Association 2000). Although early onset schizophrenia is very rare, it is important to acknowledge the aspects of this disorder within children. Discovering patterns in the development of mental illnesses among children can drastically enhance the understanding and treatment of the illness.
Until recently very little research was done involving children and adolescents dealing with schizophrenia (Nillinghouse and Trotman, 2009). There has been an increased understanding of the onset appearance of schizophrenia in recent years. Frequently, the age of onset schizophrenia is between 16 and 35 years. EOS is usually identified during school age years and the rate of the disorder usually escalates during adolescence (Li, Pearrow, & Jimerson, 2010). There are two forms of onset schizophrenia: childhood-onset schizophrenia (COS) is a very rare form of schizophrenia with less than 1% of individuals identified before the age of 13, while adolescence-onset schizophrenia (AOS) is somewhat more common with 18% having been identified before the age of 18 (Frangou, 2014). EOS describes the combined population of individuals diagnosed with this disorder.
Characteristics
Schizophrenia is a relatively rare condition with statistics

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